Pirelli: Press Release ..

Webber makes Red Bull two-time winners with Pirelli

by Pirelli — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:04:20 +0000

Monaco, May 27, 2012 – With Monaco being the hardest circuit of the year to overtake on, the emphasis was on tyre strategy to help move drivers forward during the race. Red Bull’s Mark Webber became the season’s sixth different winner in six races – a new record – underlining just how closely matched the cars are this year. Red Bull becomes the first team to win twice this year, following Sebastian Vettel’s victory in Bahrain.

At the start, all the drivers apart from Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Paul di Resta, Caterham’s Vitaly Petrov and HRT’s Pedro de la Rosa started on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre.

With the possibility of rain predicted halfway through the race, the drivers concentrated on making their first set of tyres last for as long as possible, in order to minimise the potential number of pit stops. The timing of the pit stops is always crucial in Monaco, in order to ensure that cars do not feed out into traffic that is difficult to overtake. A flawless one-stop strategy from Red Bull ensured that Webber was able to convert his pole position into a second win at Monaco.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the first of the leaders to change from supersoft to P Zero Yellow soft on lap 27, banking on no rain coming. Two laps later, Webber also pitted but crucially he was able to emerge ahead of Rosberg. The longest stint on the supersoft was carried out by Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo, who made his original set of P Zero Reds last for 40 laps.

Vettel’s strategy meant that he was able to take the lead by the halfway point of the race, building up a significant advantage by the time he finally pitted for supersoft tyres on lap 46, having put in a series of rapid laps. But it was not quite enough for him to keep the lead after his stop: Vettel re-joined in fourth position behind Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, who now heads the championship standings.

Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne also used strategy, with an early pit stop on lap 17, to move from 17^th on the grid to a points-scoring seventh. He then gambled on switching to intermediates with six laps to go, after running on the soft tyre for 53 laps. Sauber driver Sergio Perez set the fastest lap of the race on the soft tyre, having started at the back end of the grid after going off in qualifying.

The anticipated rain finally fell lightly with just over 10 laps to go, creating a grandstand finish in Monaco for the second year in succession. The top six ran nose to tail to the flag, covered by just six seconds at the finish.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “Congratulations to Mark Webber and Red Bull. The team managed their race and their tyre strategy perfectly, winning Monaco for the third year in a row and a race for the second time this year. Once again we saw that the cars were all extremely closely matched, equalling each other on pace throughout the race. This was despite the fact that nobody had any proper running on the supersoft with full tanks, due to the mixed weather conditions during free practice on Thursday. As a result, calculating the strategy was extremely complicated. But with the nature of the circuit, plus a tyre choice that was certainly more conservative and hardly any tyre degradation, it was clear that a one-stop strategy was the way forward as soon as the teams learned more about the performance of the supersoft after the race got underway. Obviously that led to longer stints and limited opportunities for overtaking. Although there was some rain at the end, our slick tyres still offered enough grip to carry the leaders through to a very close finish with the top six finishing within six seconds of each other.”

Pit stop summary – 2012 Monaco Grand Prix

Webber:	SSU	SN (29)		1
Rosberg:	SSU	SN (27)		1
Alonso:	SSU	SN (30)		1
Vettel:	SN	SSN (46)		1
Hamilton:	SSU	SN (29)		1
Massa:	SSU	SN (31)		1
Di Resta:	SN	SSN (35)		1
Hülkenberg:	SSN	SN (29)		1
Räikkönen:	SSU	SN (29)		1
Senna:	SSN	SN (29)		1
Perez:	SSN	SN (34)	DT (39)	2
Vergne:	SSN	SN (17)	IN (70)	2
Kovalainen:	SSN	SN (30)	SSU (73)	2
Glock:	SSN	SN (30)	SN (54)	2
Kartikeyan:	SSN	SSU (29)	SN (74)	2
Button:	SN	SSN (38)		1 DNF

Ricciardo:	SSU	SN (40)	1 NC
Pic:	SSN	SN (33)	1 NC
Schumacher:	SSU	SN (34)	1 NC
Petrov:	SN	SN (3)	1 NC
Kobayashi:	SSN	SN (1)	1 NC
Grosjean:	SSU		0 NC
De La Rosa:	SN		0 NC
Maldonado:	SSU		0 NC

The first column denotes the tyres the driver started the race on.

S = Soft compound / SS = Supersoft compound
N = New compound / U = Used compound
NC = Not classified / DNF = Did not finish / DT = Drive Through

The last column gives the total amount of pit stops.

Schumacher takes his 69th career pole and his first with Pirelli

by Pirelli — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:14:31 +0000

SCHUMACHER TAKES HIS 69th CAREER POLE AND HIS FIRST WITH PIRELLI

Monaco, May26, 2012 – Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher has gone quickest in qualifying in Monaco for the first time since 2000, having also taken his first pole position in Monaco in 1994. Schumacher used Pirelli’s P Zero Red supersoft tyres to set a time of 1m14.301s. With its rapid warm-up time and unique compound, the supersoft is the fastest tyre in Pirelli’s Formula One range, ideally suited to Monaco.

However, a previous grid penalty for Schumacher means that he will start the race from sixth place, while Red Bull’s Mark Webber will set off from pole position. The pole-sitter has gone on to win seven times in the last eight races at Monaco, giving Webber an excellent opportunity to become the sixth winner of the 2012 season tomorrow.

All the teams apart from Caterham, Marussia and HRT started the first qualifying session on the P Zero Yellow soft compound, which was interrupted just under the halfway point by an accident for Sauber’s Sergio Perez that ruled him out of the rest of qualifying. Force India’s Paul di Resta was then the first driver to switch to the P Zero Red supersoft, which is approximately 0.7 seconds faster than the soft tyre. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg set the fastest time in qualifying one.

All the drivers set their fastest times in the second qualifying session on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa going quickest. The final top 10 all used the supersoft, apart from Sebastian Vettel who went out on the soft tyre but did not set a time. He will be able to start on either compound from 10th place on the grid tomorrow. Mercedes was the last team to come out, with Schumacher setting his pole time in the closing seconds.

With the second free practice session on Thursday affected by rain, the teams only got the chance to have some proper running on the supersoft tyre for the first time during the final free practice session this morning. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg went fastest with a time of 1m15.159s.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “We saw a typical Monaco qualifying today, which was all about avoiding the inevitable incidents, finding a clear lap and getting the most out of the supersoft tyres. Congratulations to Michael Schumacher and Mercedes on a fantastic pole position: his first with Pirelli. With the teams having only had the chance to complete some qualifying simulations on the supersoft tyre in free practice this morning, they had very little data to go on before qualifying, but they adapted themselves very quickly to the conditions: especially Mercedes, which has been consistently quick from the start of the weekend. Tyre wear levels are low, as we expected, so we would envisage most drivers using a two-stop strategy tomorrow with some maybe trying for a one stop. However, the teams that feel confident of having a quick car could opt for a multi-stop sprint strategy. In either case, all the drivers will be able to push at their hardest from beginning to end so it should be a thrilling race.”

Tyres used by the top ten qualifiers:

Schumacher: Supersoft
Webber: Supersoft
Rosberg: Supersoft
Hamilton Supersoft
Grosjean Supersoft
Alonso  Supersoft
Massa  Supersoft
Raikkonen Supersoft
Maldonado Supersoft
Vettel  no time set

Pirelli P Zero Supersoft stars under mixed weather in Monaco

by Pirelli — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:37:21 +0000

Monaco, May 24, 2012 ¬ The Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft, specifically designed for tight and twisty street circuits such as Monaco, made its 2012 debut today in the Principality with Jenson Button setting the fastest time during the second practice session. The McLaren driver set a time of 1.15.746 on the supersoft tyre.

The supersoft is the only compound to remain unchanged compared to last year, although the profile is different. As usual, everybody concentrated on the soft tyre during the morning with the main focus on set-up work in free practice one. The teams switched to race and qualifying simulation during free practice two but intermittent rainfall brought the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre into play. Drivers waited for the weather to improve before continuing with their programmme but during the last ten minutes, more rainfall resulted in the use of the intermediate tyre by the majority of the field.

In the morning, Ferrari driver and joint championship leader Fernando Alonso went fastest with a time of 1m16.265s on the P Zero Yellow soft; a time that eclipsed the free practice one benchmark from last year by approximately four tenths of a second. The first session ended prematurely with just under 10 minutes left to go after a technical problem for Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham resulted in an oil spillage in the tunnel.

Conditions warmed up for the beginning of the second session in the afternoon, on a track that offered considerably more grip than the morning, due to the rubber that had been laid down on the track. As Monaco is a pure street circuit, which is only raced on once a year, track evolution is notable over the course of the weekend, with the times typically improving by more than three seconds from the first practice session on Thursday to the final qualifying session on Saturday.

Tyre wear is always low on what is the least abrasive and slowest track of the year, meaning that the soft tyre is anticipated to last for 50 laps or more on Sunday. The supersoft – which posted the fastest-ever lap of Monaco last year in qualifying – will deliver peak performance over just one or two laps during qualifying on Saturday, making the session even more important than usual, as overtaking is notoriously tricky.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “Of all the tyres in our range, the teams have had the least running of all on the supersoft to date, so today was very important for them to get out and expand their knowledge of the compound in the truly unique conditions of Monaco. Unfortunately the changeable weather conditions meant that the majority of the field were unable to compare the soft and supersoft tyres as much as we had hoped making Saturday’s practice very important for the full fuel load runs. There will still be plenty of data for us to analyse tonight, and we would expect the soft tyre to last for around 50 laps and the supersoft to last for 35 laps, with a difference of about a second per lap between the two compounds. This is going to make strategy a very important part of the equation, with the key thing in qualifying being to find a clear lap, which is never easy. The supersofts have a rapid warm-up time: then it’s down to the driver to make it count. But even in Monaco, we’ve seen how a good tyre strategy can help drivers make up positions if they are further down the grid.”

Pirelli numbers of the day:

Sets used overall:

Supersoft 15
Soft 48
Intermediates 24
Wet 2

Highest number of laps per compound:

Supersoft 5
Soft 17
Intermediate 13
Wet 1

Pirelli fact of the day:

The warm-up period is the time taken for the tyres to reach target temperature, which is approximately 95 degrees centigrade (measured on the surface of the tyre) in the case of the P Zero Red Supersoft. It has the fastest warm-up time of the entire range, and will be up to temperature within just one lap in Monaco. The whole tyre is directly influenced by this heating process; not just the tread pattern. The air inside the tyre expands as it heats up, increasing the tyre pressure by up to six psi in order to guarantee perfect rigidity and an optimal position of the contact patch.

Jenson Button Monaco

Pirelli presents ‘Miles and Meals’: a recipe book that reveals the gastronomic – and other – secrets of the Pirelli motorhome

by Pirelli — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:13:12 +0000

BUTTON AND GROSJEAN ARE THE CELEBRITY CHEFS AT MONTE CARLO IN A CULINARY ‘RACE’

LIVE FROM THE MOTORHOME KITCHEN

INGREDIENTS TAKE TO THE TRACK AS TYRES, CARS AND MECHANICS

TO RACE IN THEIR OWN ‘GRAND PRIX’

Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean were the celebrity chefs in the Pirelli motorhome, with the two champions going head to head in a culinary race this time under the watchful eye of Paul Hembery, the Italian firm’s motorsport director.

The challenge between the two drivers and a tasting of some of the Pirelli motorhome’s specialities, formed the backdrop today to the launch of “Miles and Meals – handcrafted by Pirelli”: a recipe book that reveals the secrets of Pirelli’s chefs and looks behind the scenes at the work of Pirelli’s personnel.

“Miles and Meals”, a limited edition gift for guests and friends of Pirelli, is a playful way of illustrating the similarities between tyres and risotto, as well as compounds and ingredients. It’s an alternative look at how the world of tyres works, bringing out the lighter side of life in the motorhome.

“Making a good tyre is like making a good risotto,” writes Maurizio Boiocchi at the start of the book: Pirelli’s research and development director and the ‘father’ of the Formula One P Zero and Cinturato tyres.

The book opens by drawing a parallel between kitchen recipes and tyre compounds. Both are the result of top quality ingredients and the harmonious balance between them, as well as constant checking, years of experience and undivided attention to the end client: whether it’s a team using tyres or a privileged guest in the motorhome. Another element in common is human know-how. The touch of an expert is crucial in the kitchen and no less vital when it comes to dealing with the cutting-edge technology that that characterises the production of modern competition tyres. This essential element is reflected by one key word in the book’s subheading, “handcrafted”, and also by the photographs that depict Pirelli’s engineers measuring, analysing and preparing the tyres for competition.

“Miles and Meals” brings together the recipes of Pirelli’s head chef Fabrizio Tanfani, overseen by hospitality manager Cristian Staurenghi. The book takes in some of the best dishes to emerge from their kitchen, race after race across all four corners of the world. Accompanying the recipes – all naturally based on Italian cuisine, but often influenced by the flavours of the countries visited during the year – are strikingly original photographs of the ingredients in a Formula One context, particularly when it comes to pasta.

So the agnolotti are in the shape of racing cars going head to head around a corner, the paccheri are single-seaters driving down a straight flanked by tyres made out of tomatoes and pine nuts, sprinkled sea salt is a gravel trap, a basil leaf is a green light, and even an octopus takes on the form of a mechanic with eight arms – ready to launch into the fastest pit stop imaginable.

Each recipe is accompanied by anecdotes that tell the story of every circuit from the point of view of the tyres and of the kitchen. So we find out that Australian Angus beef is the best possible choice for a typically Italian steak, in the markets ofDelhiit’s possible to find plenty of ingredients normally used in Tuscan cuisine, if you look hard enough, and that avocado can be the best accompaniment to a Mediterranean seafood salad.

There is also plenty of behind the scenes stories and atmosphere from the Pirelli motorhome and the company’s engineers. This takes in moments of relaxation such as the ‘Italian Sunday’ – a short break originally designed to beat the equatorial heat of Malaysia – to the everyday hard work of meetings, strategy analysis, data collection and calculation of camber and set-up for each race.

The recipes from “Miles and Meals” will shortly be available in digital form as well, to download from www.pirelli.com

Photographs from the “Miles and Meals” book, as well as images from the challenge between Button and Grosjean, are available at the following link: http://www.pirelliftp.com/share/f1/2012/monaco_event/page/index.html

PIRELLI’S HOUSE NUMBERS

Meals served per day: 180

Meals served per year: 21,600 (during 20 grands prix and 4 test sessions)

Meals per grand prix: around 600

Kilograms of meat: 18 kg per day – 90 kg per grand prix

Kilograms of fish: 12 kg per day – 60 kg per grand prix;

Kilograms of pasta: 10 kg per day – 50 kg per grand prix;

Oil: 15 litres per week;

Bread: 50 baguettes per day;

Water: 1500 half-litre bottles per week;

Coffee: 2000/2500 coffees per grand prix;

Milk: 100 litres per week with cappuccino and tea

Fruit: 35 kilograms per week

Total seats: 38

Each table is turned around on average about four times at lunch; between team and guests around 150 meals are served.

Number of people who work in the hospitality: 8. Three waitresses, two sous-chefs, one manager (Federica Marini) as well as Cristian and Fabrizio.

Size of kitchen: 2.50 metres wide and 7 metres long.

Motorhome size: 85 square metres.

The Monaco Grand Prix From a Tyre Point of View

by Pirelli — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:20:39 +0000

The Monaco Grand Prix from a tyre point of view: Monaco, 23-27 May 2012

SUPERSOFT TYRES MAKE THEIR 2012 DEBUT IN MONACO

What’s the story?

Milan, May 21, 2012 – The softest compound in Pirelli’s Formula One range – the P Zero Red supersoft – makes its first appearance of the year at the famed Monaco Grand Prix circuit: the slowest, tightest but also most prestigious race of the season. Alongside it, the P Zero Yellow soft has also been nominated.

With the street circuit relying almost exclusively on mechanical grip, it is ideal territory for the supersoft – which benefits from a rapid warm-up time and is capable of generating very high levels of traction and cornering forces. This is particularly important during qualifying: with so few opportunities to overtake in Monaco, being as far up the grid as possible is even more important than usual. For the same reason, race strategy has a profound effect. It is often easier to make up positions in the pits through an effective strategy rather than by passing on the track. Tyre wear and degradation is the lowest seen all season, making a one-stop strategy a distinct possibility for some teams. As Monaco is a street circuit, there is a high degree of track evolution over the course of the race weekend, which lasts for one day longer than anywhere else as free practice takes place on Thursday with the circuit is open to normal traffic again for much of Friday. This consequently affects the amount of rubber that is found on the surface for qualifying.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director says:

Paul Hembery: “Monaco is a highlight of the season and a place where our supersoft and soft tyres have provided plenty of entertainment in the past. Last year, we had three drivers on three different strategies set for a grandstand finish – before a red flag got in the way. The supersoft is the only compound that remains unaltered from last year, as it proved to be so effective on circuits like Monaco, but of course the profile has been re-designed to better suit the 2012 regulations. With the wear rate being so low in Monaco, the drivers will be able to push at their hardest from start to finish. Tyre strategy will be very important in Monaco, where on-track overtaking is more difficult than anywhere else. Having said that, the Principality has a history of often springing a surprise. With the cars so evenly matched now, even the slightest advantage or smallest mistake can have a big impact on the final outcome of a race, as we’ve seen so far this season.”

The men behind the steering wheel say:

Jenson Button (McLaren): “Monaco is a very special place. It’s probably the grand prix track where the sensation of speed is at its greatest, particularly during your first laps on a Thursday morning, when it just seems unreal to be controlling 750bhp through the narrow winding streets of the Principality. But it’s also a place where you find a groove and a rhythm like nowhere else and, before, too long, it feels very comfortable to be reeling off fast laps and pushing the back end out around the corners. Monaco will be the first time this season that we’ll have used Pirelli’s supersoft compound, and I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously, we’ll start the weekend using the soft compound tyres, but when we first switch to the supersofts, I know the car’s going to feel very different. As always, it’s going to be fascinating to discover how the tyres react and behave across the weekend – particularly at a place where qualifying will be crucial – but I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

Pirelli’s test driver says:

Lucas di Grassi: “Like many drivers I live in Monaco, but you need to work so accurately with the car balance and set-up for the race, that even if you drove on the roads every day it would give you no advantage at all. Monaco is one of the most complex races of the year, as you need to be so precise on every lap. Most people don’t realise just how bumpy the circuit is too, so there is a lot to consider when it comes to finding the right set-up and the best way to get the most out of the tyres. With the tyre nominations that Pirelli has made, there are plenty of opportunities for some very different strategies, as we saw last year. So far it’s been a fantastic season, but also I think there are some drivers who should have won by now who haven’t: anything can happen in Monaco. That’s just one of the things that makes it such a fascinating race.”

Technical tyre notes:

• The track surface is the least abrasive of the year, and added to the slow average speed (including the slowest hairpin bend on the calendar, taken at just 47kph) this leads to a very low level of tyre wear. The soft tyres are capable of lasting for 50 laps or more, making a one-stop strategy entirely realistic – although McLaren’s Jenson Button used a three-stop sprint strategy to finish on the podium last year.

• The tight and twisty confines of the circuit, with no run-off area, have an important effect on race strategy. With a high risk of incidents that can bring out the safety car, the teams need enough flexibility in their strategies to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

• The brakes are used heavily in Monaco, and this transmits heat to the tyres that adds to the stress placed on the structure. Going into Sainte Devote, for example, the cars lose 160kph in just 100 metres. The tyres are also heavily challenged at the swimming pool complex. They hit the kerbs at more than 200kph, generating a lateral force of 3.65g.

The tyre choices so far:

	PZero Red	PZero Yellow	PZero White	PZero Silver
Australia		Soft	Medium
Malaysia			Medium	Hard
China		Soft	Medium
Bahrain		Soft	Medium
Spain		Soft		Hard
Monaco	Supersoft	Soft

Pirelli in Monaco:

• Apart from Sebastien Vettel’s success last year, Pirelli’s most high-profile event in the Principality has been the Monte Carlo Rally, which the Italian firm has won 13 times. The most recent triumph came in 2010, with Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen winning comfortably in a Ford Fiesta S2000.

• Pirelli’s commercial presence in Monaco is handled by Pirelli France. Based near Paris, Pirelli France has around 100 employees. The company is the third tyre manufacturer in France in terms of brand awareness.

• Pirelli has an extensive programme of activities for GT owners in France, such as the P Zero Experience: top quality track days held on the best circuits in France. There is also the P Zero by Night Experience: regularity rallies run at night for gentlemen drivers, attracting up to 80 cars at a time.

• Pirelli France is also actively engaged in rallying, supporting almost 100 young drivers through the Pirelli Trophee. In total, Pirelli France’s engineers are present at more than 25 rally weekends per year.

Other news from Pirelli:

• Monaco will host the GP2 Series together with the GP3 Series for the first time in the circuit’s history, giving the stars of the future the chance to shine in front of the most influential people in Formula One. This creates a big logistical challenge for Pirelli’s fitting crews, who will be fitting around 3100 tyres in total in the cramped confines of the paddock over the weekend.

• A new recipe book with a difference will be launched in the Pirelli Motorhome at the Monaco paddock on Wednesday evening at 1800, inspired by the cuisine that has made Pirelli’s kitchen legendary. Some special driver guests will also be on hand to try out some of the recipes.

• The first gravel event of the Italian Rally Championship took place the week before the Monaco Grand Prix: the Rally dell’Adriatico. The Italian firm used its K series Scorpion rubber, which uses similar technology to the tyres that had a failure rate of less than 0.02% when Pirelli was sole supplier to the World Rally Championship from 2008-2010. Pirelli driver Paolo Andreucci claimed another victory to reinforce his lead of the championship.

• Pirelli recently released its 2011 annual report in Milan. As well as presenting all the facts and figures about the company’s performance last year, the book is also designed as a work of art. The drawings were made by renowned Dutch illustrator Stefan Glerum and there are contributions from some of Europe’s leading writers and academics.

• Pirelli’s test driver Lucas di Grassi took part in the Nurburgring 24 Hour race the weekend before the Monaco GP, driving a McLaren MP412C running on Pirelli tyres. It was di Grassi’s debut at the endurance classic, but he was unlucky: his team mate crashed the car on Saturday evening and the crew were forced to retire.

PIRELLI ANNOUNCES COMPOUND CHOICES UP TO SILVERSTONE

by Pirelli — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:43:44 +0000

PIRELLI ANNOUNCES COMPOUND CHOICES UP TO SILVERSTONE

Milan, May 21, 2012 – Pirelli has nominated the P Zero slick compounds that will be used for the forthcoming races in Montreal, Valencia and Silverstone.

For the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, the teams will use the P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft tyres. At the Grand Prix of Europe in Valencia, the teams will have the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft at their disposal. Finally, for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Pirelli will bring the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero Yellow soft.

Montreal’s street circuit is tight and twisty, making it ideally suited to the two softest compounds in Pirelli’s range – as will be used in Monaco next weekend. Valencia is also a street circuit, but higher temperatures and faster speeds mean that the medium and the soft tyres are most suitable. Silverstone is one of the quickest circuits of the year, so the nomination of hard and soft – with a full step in between the two compounds – will showcase both the durability and performance of Pirelli’s products, while opening up many different possibilities in terms of strategy.

The 2012 rules stipulate that under normal circumstances each team will receive six sets of the harder compound and five sets of the softer compound for the race weekend, which can now be used at any point from free practice one on Friday onwards. Pirelli will also bring its Cinturato Green intermediate tyre for damp track conditions (four sets per driver) as well as the Cinturato Blue rain tyre (three sets per driver) to each race).

The tyre choices so far:

	PZero Red	PZero Yellow	PZero White	PZero Silver
Australia		Soft	Medium
Malaysia			Medium	Hard
China		Soft	Medium
Bahrain		Soft	Medium
Spain		Soft		Hard
Monaco	Supersoft	Soft
Canada	Supersoft	Soft
Europe		Soft	Medium
Great Britain		Soft		Hard

Williams takes first win for eight years with Pirelli in Spain

by Pirelli — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:19:56 +0000

Tyre strategy played a key role in the Spanish Grand Prix, which was won by Williams driver Pastor Maldonado: the first win for the British team since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix. The Venezuelan became the fifth different winner in five races this year, with five different cars.

Maldonado qualified on pole, but was passed by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, who made his first pit stop on lap 11. The biggest winner from the first stint was McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who went from last to fourth before switching to the hard tyres on lap 14.

With cooler conditions of 23 degrees centigrade ambient and 32 degrees track temperature, the working range of the P Zero Silver hard tyre came into its own, making it the favoured option for most teams to race on. The other nominated tyre, the P Zero Yellow soft, offered a significant performance advantage, and was used mainly for qualifying and the beginning of the race, with every driver starting on the soft tyre.

The key to Maldonado’s victory was when he made his second stop two laps sooner than Alonso for the hard tyre, which enabled him to put in some quick laps and get past the Ferrari which pitted for the second time on lap 26. From then on, he was able to control his advantage with a three-stop strategy, which was also adopted by Alonso. After his final stop, Maldonado ran the P Zero Silver tyre for 25 laps to take victory by 3.1 seconds as he and Alonso raced to the finish on the hard tyre. Both drivers started on the soft tyre, and then used three sets of the hard tyre.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, who finished third, also made good use of the hard tyre during his final 18-lap stint to close up on the leaders over the last 10 laps, having made three stops. By the end of the race, he was less than a second behind Alonso. Raikkonen used a different strategy to the two drivers in front of him, using the soft tyre twice at the beginning of the race and then completing two stints on the hard tyre.

By contrast, Hamilton was the only person to use a two-stop strategy to finish eighth – a result that was decided on the final lap – from 24^th and last on the grid, after his original pole position time was cancelled for a rules infringement.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished sixth after four pit stops, including one drive-through penalty, and retains the championship lead jointly with Alonso. This is the closest start to a season since 1983 – which was also the last time a Venezuelan scored world championship points, thanks to Johnny Cecotto. Maldonado now becomes Venezuela’s first grand prix winner.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “With Pastor Maldonado starting from the front and Lewis Hamilton starting from the back, this was always going to be a fascinating race, and thanks to the tyre strategy as well, it certainly delivered. Maldonado and Williams were quick right from free practice on Friday, having consistently got the most out of both tyre compounds all weekend. The final 10 laps were a fantastic duel between him and Alonso, with less than a second separating them, on similar strategies. Both drivers showed their tyre management skills perfectly, managing to avoid falling off ‘the cliff’ despite pushing hard for the race win. The tyres contributed to an extremely entertaining and tense race, but as official supplier we will always follow the wishes of the teams and the promoter and our future development direction will be dictated by what they want. For the sport, we believe that it’s fantastic to have five races, five winners and five cars – especially when it is as well deserved as the victory that we saw from Pastor and Williams today.”

PIT STOP SUMMARY – 2012 SPANISH GRAND PRIX

Maldonado:	SU	HN (11)	HN (24)	HN (41)		3
Alonso:	SU	HU (10)	HU (26)	HU (44)		3
Räikkönen:	SU	SU (11)	HN (27)	HN (48)		3
Grosjean:	SU	SU (10)	HN (26)	HN (51)		3
Kobayashi:	SN	HN (8)	HN (26)	HU (41)		3
Vettel:	SU	HN (7)	HN (27)	DT (30)	HN (42)	4
Rosberg:	SU	SU (9)	HN (22)	HN (40)		3
Hamilton:	SU	HN (14)	HN (35)			2
Button:	SU	HN (9)	SU (25)	HN (38)		3
Hülkenberg:	SU	SN (10)	HN (19)	HN (39)		3
Webber:	SN	HN (6)	HN (17)	HN (40)		3
Vergne:	SU	HN (10)	SN (23)	HN (40)		3
Ricciardo:	SU	HN (11)	SN (25)	HN (39)		3
Di Resta:	SU	SN (9)	HN (23)	HN (42)		3
Massa:	SN	HN (10)	DT (28)	HN (29)	HU (45)	4
Kovalainen:	SN	SN (13)	SU (27)	HN (43)		3
Petrov:	SN	HN (10)	SN (28)	HN (44)		3
Glock:	SN	SU (14)	HN (26)	HN (47)		3
De La Rosa:	SN	SU (10)	HN (19)	HN (35)	SU (54)	4


Perez:	SU	HN (1)	HN (17)	HU (37)		3 NC
Pic:	SN	SU (15)	HN (27)			2 NC
Kartikeyan:	SN	SN (11)	HN (22)			2 NC
Senna:	SN					0 NC
Schumacher:	SU	SU (10)				1 NC

The first column denotes the tyres the driver started the race on.
S = Soft compound
H = Hard compound
N = New compound
U = Used compound
NC = Not classified
DT = Drive Through
The last column gives the total amount of pit stops.

***

Copyright-free video news releases featuring interviews with Paul Hembery, as well as photographs and press releases are available for media use from: www.pirelli.com/f1 pressarea.

Follow us on Twitter @ Pirelli_Media or Facebook on www.facebook.com/Pirelli. Please also visit the Pirelli F1 blog at www.pirelli.com

For further information please contact
Alexandra Schieren +33 607 03 69 03 alexandra.schieren@pirelli.com
Anthony Peacock +44 7765 896 930 anthony@mediatica.co.uk
**
Francescopaolo Tarallo +39 334 684 4307 francescopaolo.tarallo@pirelli.com
(Head of Product and Motorsport Communication)

HAMILTON CLAIMS THIRD POLE THIS YEAR WITH PIRELLI P ZERO YELLOW

by Pirelli — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:55:29 +0000

Barcelona, May 12, 2012 – McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position this year by going fastest in Spain using the P Zero Yellow soft tyre: nominated along with the P Zero Silver hard tyre this weekend. Hamilton took his first pole in Spain and the 150th for McLaren with a time of 1m21.707s, after a session that was characterised by several different team strategies.

Pastor Maldonado claimed second on the same tyre: the Venezuelan’s best-ever qualifying result and the highest grid placing for Williams since the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Qualifying started with a track temperature of 40 degrees centigrade, which was slightly higher than qualifying in Bahrain two weeks ago. This only added to the energy put through the tyres by corners such as turn three: the longest and fastest corner of the whole Circuit de Catalunya.

With most of the teams looking at three stops tomorrow, and three sets each of the harder and softer compounds available as usual for qualifying and the race, tyre management was an important consideration from the very beginning of qualifying.

Maldonado was the first driver to switch to the soft tyre halfway through qualifying one, topping the time sheets to underline the pace he had shown since the beginning of the weekend. Both Red Bull drivers completed one run on the soft tyre towards the end of the first session.

All the drivers used the soft tyre during Q2. Most drivers went out on used softs to keep a fresh set for the final top-10 shoot-out, but while Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi qualified in the top 10 he was unable to take part in qualifying three due to a mechanical problem: meaning that it was a fight for the top nine.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was the first driver on track in Q3, completing a lap on soft tyres but not setting a time, while Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher went out on hard tyres and also did not set a time. The aborted laps from Vettel and Schumacher means that they will be able to start the race on whichever compound they like, as will Kobayashi.

Vettel was fastest during the final free practice session this morning, setting a time of 1m23.168s using the P Zero Yellow soft tyres, with the Sauber drivers also topping the time sheets for much of the session.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “Strategy was at the forefront of qualifying today, with a gap of around 0.8 seconds between the hard and the soft tyres, depending on the team. Historically, Barcelona is a race that has nearly always been won from the front row of the grid, but now drivers that have qualified lower down the grid still have a possibility to challenge for victory. There were some surprising eliminations in Q2; however these drivers will feel the benefit of having more fresh tyres, so it will be interesting to see what they can do with them. As Barcelona is so demanding on every aspect of the dynamics of a car, including tyre management, it is normally a very good indicator of the likely form for the rest of the year. With the teams so closely matched this season, and the upgrades introduced at Mugello beginning to take effect, it’s going to be very hard to predict a winner for tomorrow. Particular congratulations to Pastor Maldonado and Williams – who have consistently got the most out of the tyres throughout the weekend so far.”

Tyres used by the top ten qualifiers:

Hamilton: Soft
Maldonado: Soft
Alonso: Soft
Grosjean: Soft
Raikkonen: Soft
Perez: Soft
Rosberg: Soft
Vettel: no time set
Schumacher: no time set
Kobayashi: no time set

PIRELLI P ZERO YELLOW SOFT SETS FASTEST TIME IN PRACTICE

by Pirelli — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:38:53 +0000

On its return to Europe, the P Zero Yellow soft tyre (which has been nominated together with the P Zero Silver hard tyre for the first time this season) set the fastest time in the second free practice session in Barcelona: the home of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Jenson Button set the fastest time during the second session this afternoon, with a time of 1m23.399 on the soft tyre. As expected, temperatures remained dry and warm for both the hour and a half sessions, allowing the drivers to experience the sort of conditions that they are likely to encounter during qualifying on Saturday. For the race, a risk of rain showers has been initially forecast.

With Barcelona being one of the circuits that places heavy demands on the tyres, the teams used the two free practice sessions to assess wear and degradation rates on different fuel loads, and also to establish a base set-up that will suit their likely strategies. With many teams having introduced upgrades at the recent Mugello test, free practice in Barcelona was also another opportunity to see how these worked in conjunction with the 2012-specification Pirelli tyres.

For the first time, there is an entire step in between the two compounds that have been nominated by Pirelli for the race. With a lap time difference of just over a second between the two compounds, strategy will be even more important during the race, putting an emphasis on the data collected by the teams during free practice today.

In the morning session, the teams concentrated exclusively on the P Zero Silver hard before moving onto the P Zero Yellow soft tyre in the afternoon with some further use of the hard compound. The fastest time in free practice one was set by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso with a benchmark of 1m24.754s.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “It was a very important session today for all the teams, as they aimed to gather as much information as possible in order to prepare their race strategies, which are going to have a big influence on the final outcome of the race. Barcelona is well known for a notable degree of tyre wear thanks to long and fast corners such as turn three, and although we still have plenty of data to analyse, it seems that the frontrunners will be likely to adopt a three-stop strategy. However, with a wider gap between the two nominated tyres than usual – both in terms of compound and performance – we could see some quite different strategies that are capable of springing a surprise. And of course if the rain showers that some people are predicting for Sunday materialise, then the race will take on an entirely new and unexpected complexion. With many of the teams introducing new developments in Spain, it almost feels like we are starting the season from scratch again.”

Tomorrow (Saturday) Paul Hembery will be taking part in a live online chat from the Spanish Grand Prix at 6.00pm local time (+1 hour CET), together with Pirelli test driver Jaime Alguersuari, who has been recently testing Pirelli’s latest development tyres at Jerez in the south of Spain. To join in and stream on your own website please visit: http://streamingf1.pirelli.com/share/
To watch, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/Pirelli/app_234658916574732

PIRELLI NUMBERS OF THE DAY:

Sets used overall:

Hard  53
Soft  25
Intermediates 0
Wet  0

Highest number of laps per compound:

Hard  17
Soft  18
Intermediate 0
Wet  0

PIRELLI FACT OF THE DAY:

Last year, a four-stop strategy proved the key to success for Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel: the only race other than Turkey (which also contains high-speed, high-energy corners) where this was the case. Pirelli nominated the hard and soft tyres last year in Barcelona as well, but this year’s compounds are softer across the board: the 2012 hard compound is similar in character to last year’s medium. However, the teams have plenty of experience of running the 2012 Pirelli tyres in Barcelona through pre-season testing. The final test held in March was dominated by Lotus, which went quickest on three out of the four days, using the P Zero Yellow soft tyre.

Meeting of Pirelli & C. SpA Shareholders

by Pirelli — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:43:39 +0000

• 2011 RESULTS APPROVED

• DISTRIBUTION OF 0.27 EURO DIVIDEND PER ORDINARY SHARE AND 0.34 EURO PER SAVINGS SHARE DECIDED

• BOARD MEMBERS MANUELA SOFFIENTINI AND GIUSEPPE VITA NOMINATED

• NEW AUDIT COMMITTEE NAMED

• REMUNERATION POLICY APPROVED

• MANAGEMENT LTI INCENTIVE PLAN APPROVED

• ‘PIRELLI SHAREHOLDERS CLUB’ LAUNCHED FOR INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS

The shareholders of Pirelli & C. SpA met today in ordinary session and approved full-year results for 2011 which ended with a consolidated net profit of 440.7 million euro and parent company net profit of 272.5 million euro. They decided the on the distribution of a dividend of 0.27 euro per ordinary share and 0.34 euro per savings share with payment on 24 May 2012 (ex-dividend 21 May 2012).

Shareholders nominated board members Manuela Soffientini (independent) and Giuseppe Vita, both already coopted.

Shareholders also nominated, via list vote, the new Audit Committee for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. The committee is thus composed of Francesco Fallacara (who shareholders named as chairman), Antonella Carù and Enrico Laghi, as standing auditors, and Umile Sebastiano Iacovino and Andrea Lorenzatti as alternate auditors. The chairman of the new audit committee and the alternate auditor Andrea Lorenzatti were chosen from the minority list (voted for by about 22% of the capital represented at the shareholders meeting) presented by a group of fund managers and financial intermediaries, while the other nominations were chosen from the majority list (voted for by circa 78% of the capital represented at the shareholders meeting) presented by Camfin, Mediobanca, Edizione, Fondiaria-Sai, Allianz, Assicurazioni Generali, Intesa Sanpaolo, Sinpar and Massimo Moratti, members of the Pirelli & C. SpA shareholder agreement. The compensation for the standing auditors was established at 50,000 euro and for the Committee chairman at 75,000 euro.

The curricula of the new auditors are available at the company’s website (www.pirelli.com).

Shareholders also expressed themselves in favour of the Company and Group remuneration policy, as well as approving the 3-year LTI incentive plan (Long Term Incentive), decided by the Board of Directors in March following its proposal by the Remunerations Committee and destined for management. The new plan is linked to the achievement of the targets of the 2012-2014 group industrial plan, to TSR (Total Shareholders Return) and Pirelli’s position in the key sustainability rankings at the world level.

It should be noted that documentation relative to the 2011 annual results and the information document prepared for the LTI plan are available to the public at the company’s headquarters in Milan (Viale Piero e Alberto Pirelli 25) and at Borsa Italiana S.p.A., as well as being online at the company’s website www.pirelli.com.

The minutes of the shareholders’ meeting will be available to the public via the same channels by 8 June 2012.

’Pirelli Shareholders Club’ for individual investor launched

During today’s shareholders’ meeting, Pirelli also presented the “Pirelli Shareholders Club”, an initiative that is one of a number for individual investors. Through this new project Pirelli, the sixth biggest group in terms of the weight of individual investors with 16% of capital held by 70,000 shareholders, intends to bring investors closer to its world and products. By enrolling in the Club, in fact, shareholders will receive not only all the information needed to know the company, but also gain access to exclusive prizes linked to Pirelli’s world, like sporting, cultural and lifestyle events.

PDF Version (44 KB)